How to Connect an External Dc Supply to the SL-1200/1210

INSTALLING AN EXTERNAL REGULATED DC SUPPLY IN THE TECHNICS SL-1200/1210

1. Remove the platter mat, and pull the platter upwards, using the two holes to get a firm hold. The large plastic cover must now be removed, by undoing the 5 small screws around the edge:

http://i39.tinypic.com/xnfeh1.jpg

2. When the cover is removed, this is what you see:

http://i39.tinypic.com/50sgue.jpg

The mains cable enters at the top from underneath the turntable, through a clamping gland, then it goes to the small power PCB that you can see on the left below the transformer. The first job is to remove the old mains cable:


a. Undo the small metal plate that holds the cable gland. Squeeze the underside of the cable gland using a pair of pliers, and push it upwards. The gland can be easily removed now.


b. Snip the light blue and brown AC cables from the small power PCB, just above the fuse, as seen in the picture below:

http://i40.tinypic.com/65pxjn.jpg


c. Release the mains cable, threading it through the bottom of the chassis. You don’t need this cable any more, unless you wish to reinstate the deck to standard fettle.


d. At this point, you can, if you wish, remove the entire mains transformer and power PCB assembly. Doing so is said to further improve sound quality. If you want to do this, carefully snip (close to the PCB) the light blue, dark blue and brown wires from the power PCB points marked “SW”. Tidy these 3 wires to one side. Then snip the small red and blue wires from the bottom left hand corner of the main control board (next to the large electrolytic capacitor). Remove the 3 small black screws from the top of the mains transformer and remove the metal screen – you can now undo the 3 securing screws holding it to the chassis. Undo the two silver screws holding the power PCB to the chassis, and then the whole assembly can be lifted away.

3. Thread your new DC power cable through the bottom of the chassis and through the small metal plate. Don’t secure it with the cable gland just yet.

4. You now need to remove the Technics 3-pin regulator device, which is located above the main control PCB, next to where the power cable enters. It has 3 wires (red, yellow, orange) which go to the main PCB (marked “J1”, “J2” and “J3”). Snip the wires as shown below:

http://i40.tinypic.com/kaskf4.jpg

You can leave the device in-situ, or remove it – it’s your choice.

5. Now take enough of your incoming DC cable to allow the NEGATIVE wire to thread neatly to the bottom left hand corner of the main control PCB. Attach a small circular solder tag to the end, and secure it to the main PCB earth point at the bottom left corner of the PCB, using the existing screw and serrated washer. See how the black wire in the picture below is routed to the left of the PCB, and secured:

http://i41.tinypic.com/e8k45j.jpg

6. Take the POSITIVE wire and shorten it, so that reaches the PCB, as shown by the white wire in the pictures above and below. Strip and tin the end, and solder it to the wire link on the PCB (just to the left of the word “LAMP”) as shown below:

http://i39.tinypic.com/2h6umtf.jpg

7. Double-check your PSU polarity, and that it’s giving 21v DC. Test that everything’s OK by replacing the platter (don’t worry about the plastic cover for this testing). Plug your DC lead into the PSU in and turn it on. The red strobe light should be illuminated all the time, irrespective of the position of the on/off switch. Press the start/stop button and the platter should spin up and stabilise. If all is well, remove the platter, replace the plastic cover, put the platter back on again, and that’s it!

8. If you are bothered about not having a working power switch on your deck, it’s not much trouble to take the blue and brown wires that you may have snipped in Step 2d, and route your positive DC lead through the deck’s power switch, using these existing wires. You’ll have to work out which ones to use with the aid of a multimeter, but that’s not difficult! Then your deck will operate exactly as before.

hi hugo,

thanks for walk through much needed,i have a couple of questions though.

If i follow your instructions and solder the dc cable as you say, on the plug end where would the + and - go? would the outer small tab be +?

On my power pcb board there is a yellow and bue cable which goes to the main pcb marked AC,i assume i cut these two?

The only cables left attached to the power pcb board are thick brown blue and red ones which i assume are connected to the on/off switch which i cut yes?

Sorry for being dumb here but it looks like i have a couple of different coloured cables and i can't see any points marked sw.

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Originally Posted by kininigin

hi hugo,


If i follow your instructions and solder the dc cable as you say, on the plug end where would the + and - go? would the outer small tab be +?

.

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I sussed out the removal of the old psu just need the answer to this question

anyone?

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Originally Posted by kininigin

I sussed out the removal of the old psu just need the answer to this question

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It is usual, but not universal, for the DC+ to be the centre pin of a circular DC power connector, and I believe that's the case on the Timestep, but do check with a multimeter and be quite sure. There is no right or wrong here - as long as you know which way round the +ve and -ve go in your PSU and connect the deck up to the DC connector correctly, then all will be well.

Great post Shuggie!

You might also consider removing C4, R2 and R4 for completeness.

Here is pic from a post about Technics external powersupplies, on audiocircle in the Paul Hynes' section

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j.../1210input.jpg

oops! double post...

I am one of those who likes the power switch to work so have kept it in the circuit. In my case it was the brown and blue wires at bottom of the power pcb that went to and from the power switch - the third wire (in my case red not light blue) was not involved. The photo shows the wiring - heat shrink keeps the joins tidy and I then used a dab of hot glue to keep the wires in place (not shown).
IMHO I could not detect any degradation in sound with the switch in or out of the circuit.

Steve

Pete,
I believe it would be unwise to remove the C3 or C4 in the context of the TimeStep power supply; as this is a capacitor which sits across the 21V supply to the main power feed to the motor drive circuit IC and also to the stator coils themselves!
In fact I have increased the value of this cap to 100uF using a quality Alluminium foil type. The 21V also of course has to feed other elements of the circuit, but in many cases these are stepdown voltages via further regulators; which I believe the super duper Paul Heynes power supply addresses.
The Timestep power supply does have a reasonable 4700uF across the rectifier bridge output, before the LM317 regulator. However the capacitor across the output DC is a modest 100uF.
If one wish’s to improve the PS further then they should look at replacing the rather loose and ineffective co-axial connector, the possible intermittent contact resistance at this point could cause a loss of integrity of DC supply.
In fact I consider the best connector is no connector!!
Directly connect the DC into the SL1200 with a better quality twin cable.

Good points Mike. I have a Hynes SR5 DIY psu, so I followed the diagram I posted above.

Why are the audiophile PSU's so expensive, £300+ is ridiculous?

Design & build your own, it's what i'll eventually do ;)

With all the components i have here i'll probably only need to buy a case to stick it in :lol:

Sounds like a plan, I have lots of boxes too! Perhaps you can build one for me in exchange for a some mains goodies?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mains Cables R Us

Sounds like a plan, I have lots of boxes too! Perhaps you can build one for me in exchange for a some mains goodies?

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David, you'd have to have the patience of a saint i'm afraid :lol:

I have a number of projects in development (mostly in my head right now) that are on hold simply because i have nowhere to actually get the bloody work done :doh: I'm working on that though & gradually clearing a room so i can make a workshop ;)

You might know how things conspire to make things difficult :rolleyes: No car license means i can't simply fill a car with crap & take it to the dump... A buggered up back means i can't go mad & hire a skip & attempt to fill it quickly as i'll be on my back before it'd be half full :eek:

It's great to be alive though :lolsign:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mains Cables R Us

Why are the audiophile PSU's so expensive, £300+ is ridiculous?

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Not really, if you accept that someone's got to make a living out of selling these things, unless that someone is obviously taking the pi$$ with just a handful of off-the-shelf components that only cost a few quid. If you ever get a chance to look at a Paul Hynes SR3 or SR5 PSU, you'll probably wonder how he does them for the money!

I just re-soldered my Timestep lead and attached it to the real earth instead of the top right corner.

I note that the diagram on the previous page is a view from underneath the circuits. Realising that, I have just applied a much cheaper power supply mod to my second deck. I am using the original power supply, but in an external box. It supplies AC to the two AC posts at the bottom left of the circuit (when viewed from in front of the deck and above it). All seems to work fine. I can't say I notice a huge improvement, but it can't hurt to get the transformer out and away from the deck. I also just replaced the arm with a new stock one. It sounds pretty good as a stock deck, albeit with a Stanton headshell and Goldring 2100, playing into a Uphorik. The frequency extremes aren't impressive, but that's the cartridge. Very very musical though. All in, an amazing deck for 300 quid.

Hi Richard,

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Realising that, I have just applied a much cheaper power supply mod to my second deck. I am using the original power supply, but in an external box.

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Nice one - I've often recommended people to do precisely that who may not have funds to buy a Timestep or a Paul Hynes PSU.

Any chance of some pics of what you've done, and a detailed description of the procedure involved?

It would be a useful addition to the thread for people to use for future reference :)

Also, do pop in more often, as I enjoy reading your posts on pfm. It would be good if you integrated more into our community, giving us your erudite views on the SL-1200 on a more regular basis :cool:

Marco.

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Originally Posted by Marco

Nice one - I've often recommended people to do precisely that who may not have funds to buy a Timestep or a Paul Hynes PSU.

Any chance of some pics of what you've done, and a detailed description of the procedure involved?

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Here are some images then:

http://cyberphotographer.com/technics/diypower/1.JPG

http://cyberphotographer.com/technics/diypower/2.JPG

http://cyberphotographer.com/technics/diypower/3.JPG

http://cyberphotographer.com/technics/diypower/4.JPG

http://cyberphotographer.com/technics/diypower/5.JPG

http://cyberphotographer.com/technics/diypower/6.JPG

http://cyberphotographer.com/technics/diypower/7.JPG

I advise anyone who is not very clued up about electrics NOT TO DO WHAT I'VE DONE HERE, as there is plenty of scope for killing yourself or burning your house down when everyone has gone to bed.

That said, the goal is to provide 29V AC to the logic/drive unit at the two binding posts. You can see that I have soldered a cable to the posts in picture 7. Technics doesn't solder these terminals, but winds the wire around them many times. I don't know why they do it this way, but I don't doubt anything their engineers have done.

The three chunky mains power cables which go to the on/off switch have just been cut and terminated. There's no need to terminate them though, they carry no voltage.

The blue cable I used is almost certainly the wrong kind. I just guessed. It came from Maplin just like all the other bits I used.

It is VERY IMPORTANT when putting together the transformer box to remember safety. I always put saftey third. I end up with zapped equipment, burns from the iron, stuns from the mains and so on. I will probably also burn my home down. Don't f**k with mains electrics, it's not a toy. Observant viewers will notice in these pictures that I have blown the fuse on the circuit board. Don't do what I do.

I put the live main to the switch. I doubt that's safe, but I wanted another way of turning off the device than just unplugging it, in case the plug is hard to reach.

Since the deck's power knob has been removed from the circuit, it is necessary to short out the two terminals that the switch connects. You can see I re-used a bit of the pale blue mains wire for doing this. I shorted out the switch in such a way as to keep all the fuses in the circuit.

The mains wires ought to be wrapped around their terminals, not just soldered to them, as solder is brittle and breaks very easily when things are kicked around. You don't want live mains invigorating the socket or switch and reminding you what 240V feels like. Or burning down your house.

The circuit board is levitated from the base by using three nuts on each bolt: one to lock the bolt to the box, and the other two to lock the circuit on the bolt some distance above the box base.

The AC output from the transformer goes to a fuse on the power circuit board, and emerges again as a small blue wire, so we have one yellow wire direct to the 29V output socket, and one blue one. I wrapped those in a lot of insulating tape in the hope of avoiding the firework display which would result from shorting the mains to the output accidentally.

Finally I re-used the rubber grommets which act as feet for the transformer, and made sure everything was bolted firmly to the box so nothing flies around inside. Remember, safety third.

Shielding is not very thorough as the cage around the transformer has no bottom. In the deck it doesn't need one since the alloy chassis shields it at the bottom.

Next time I do one of these I will probably do away with the switch and the socket, and just run both wires in and out. It'll take less time, and probably be safer and better.

Wire wrap was used extensively in very complex logic circuits, before the advent of multi-layer PCB technology, where as many as 400 integrated circuits were employed on a common board. With as many as 14-18 pins per IC that amounts to 7,200 interconnects!!! The wire when wrapped around the corners of the pins, (you will note thay are of square cross section) forms a type of pressure weld at the corners for excellent contact. It was later adopted for more mundane applications where the cost and time of soldering could be avoided. You can affect a ww joint in about 1.0 secs
In the imges shown, the wire should have been wrapped around the terminals a couple of times for machanical strength, before soldering.
Never solder a heavy wire carrying current as a parrallel joint as shown it can easily be pealed off!

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Originally Posted by Mike_New

Wire wrap was used extensively in very complex logic circuits, before the advent of multi-layer PCB technology, where as many as 400 integrated circuits were employed on a common board. With as many as 14-18 pins per IC that amounts to 7,200 interconnects!!! The wire when wrapped around the corners of the pins, (you will note thay are of square cross section) forms a type of pressure weld at the corners for excellent contact. It was later adopted for more mundane applications where the cost and time of soldering could be avoided. You can affect a ww joint in about 1.0 secs
In the imges shown, the wire should have been wrapped around the terminals a couple of times for machanical strength, before soldering.
Never solder a heavy wire carrying current as a parrallel joint as shown it can easily be pealed off!

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Thank you very much for the info Mike. I will go back and do it again, properly this time.

P.S. I'm still saving for a bearing. Hopefully will paypal you soon.

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Originally Posted by sonddek

I'm still saving for a bearing

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That makes 2 of us!!! :eyebrows:

Since it is still the new year and you bastard pommies keep on winning, I will give you both less 5%

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike_New

Since it is still the new year and you bastard pommies keep on winning, I will give you both less 5%

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hehehehe!!!!! Thanks Mike

I'm tempted, but as I'm moving house in 2 weeks, I'd better wait to see what funds remain when I'm in the new house! :(

Forget the new house! think of the fantastic sound quality you will achieve.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike_New

Since it is still the new year and you bastard pommies keep on winning, I will give you both less 5%

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Makes a change from our usual whining. I had almost forgotten the cricket.

Thanks Mike. Checking bank account now...

...Yikes! No dice this week.

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Originally Posted by sonddek

Makes a change from our usual whining. I had almost forgotten the cricket.

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seconded :ner:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike_New

Forget the new house! think of the fantastic sound quality you will achieve.

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:lol:

MMM! 1 small issue there Mike! The current house is poop for a TT! No space, TV stand currently being used for hifi etc. I only purchased the TTcos I'll have space to set it up properly in the new house!!!!:eyebrows:

Mike, I've just put my Transfiguration Axia on ebay with no reserve in an effort to raise funds for your bearing... :) It's only a matter of time now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sonddek

I just re-soldered my Timestep lead and attached it to the real earth instead of the top right corner.

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I've been wondering about doing this, but I'm not sure I can be bothered! I've not noticed any problems with it attached as per the Timestep instructions. What would the reason be for changing it - is it dangerous as is or perhaps there would be some performance benefit?

There is a mild performance benefit, but this is dependent on how well resolving your system is. For completeness and the best possible performance, I would make the change to the bottom-left PCB corner.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sonddek

Mike, I've just put my Transfiguration Axia on ebay with no reserve in an effort to raise funds for your bearing... :) It's only a matter of time now.

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Richard,
You are obviously genuinely keen so I will reserve the last bearing in the batch for you!!! The next batch of 25 will be available about the middle of March. It's strange, I have had a rush of 5 sales since Dec. from Asia and the US.

Hi Will,

Quote:

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I've been wondering about doing this, but I'm not sure I can be bothered! I've not noticed any problems with it attached as per the Timestep instructions. What would the reason be for changing it - is it dangerous as is or perhaps there would be some performance benefit?

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There is a performance benefit, which is that I've found it reduces acoustic feedback on the T/T (exactly why, I'm not sure - perhaps where the ground wire was before, it was more susceptible to picking up vibration and transferring it to the platter?), and this has the benefit of 'cleaning up' the top end, reducing noise too, and giving a notably more 'precise' and detailed presentation.

Aside from that, in order to ensure the correct Zero-Volt earth point for the PCB, what has been described is unquestionably the correct place on the PCB for the ground tag to go, so would you be happy knowing that you've currently got it in the INCORRECT place?

I know that I wouldn't! ;)

Do it. Trust me, you won't be sorry that you did.

Marco.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marco

Aside from that, in order to ensure the correct Zero-Volt earth point for the PCB, what has been described is unquestionably the correct place on the PCB for the ground tag to go, so would you be happy knowing that you've currently got it in the INCORRECT place?

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I think that's what's known as "em-OCD-ional blackmail", Marco!

I've got some time this afternoon, so I think I'll have a go. The most annoying thing, as far as I can recall, was unclipping and then reclipping the cable-tie mechanism that grips the lead on its way through the hole in the base.

Oh, I've just remembered what Mike New said before about this:

Quote:

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If any other earth point is used, then the 0 volt circuit will be via the alluminium chassis. The die cast alluminium is to an extent granular and is certainly not a good conductor, thus you will have a resistance (and noise) to earth which could seriously degrade performance.

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Having tried it and compared the difference, he is absolutely right!

Like I said, I also found that it reduced acoustic feedback, possibly because with the ground wire now not connected via the chassis, it (and the whole T/T, as a result) is better isolated from the effects of vibration.

Marco.

Quote:

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I think that's what's known as "em-OCD-ional blackmail", Marco!

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Lol! I think it's called dotting I's and crossing Ts ;)

Quote:

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I've got some time this afternoon, so I think I'll have a go. The most annoying thing, as far as I can recall, was unclipping and then reclipping the cable-tie mechanism that grips the lead on its way through the hole in the base.

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Nice one - please report back with the results, as I'm curious to know what you think. For best results, make sure when soldering the ground tag that it is located precisely as Mike describes here (in his post #141):

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...t=6819&page=15

...noting this in particular:

Quote:

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The printed circuit board is only a 'single layer' board (referring to the copper layer)
Now the actual, absolute Zero-Volt earth point for the PCB is therefore on the underneath side of the PCB. Not on the top surface.

It therefore follows, that for the lowest resistance possible between the earth tag and the 0 volt line of the circuitry, the earth tag must be connected on the underside of the PCB, where the copper track is.

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Marco.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike_New

You are obviously genuinely keen so I will reserve the last bearing in the batch for you!!! The next batch of 25 will be available about the middle of March. It's strange, I have had a rush of 5 sales since Dec. from Asia and the US.

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Please do hold it for me. My Axia auction on ebay ends this evening, so I will paypal you as soon as I receive payment, hopefully tomorrow.

A little update on removing the power supply:

When I first installed my Timestep PSU I noticed an apparent increase in clarity, separation and smoothness of tone. A less congested sound if you like. It wasn't an enormous change, but it was a worthwhile one.

Subsequently I have heard people doubting that this improvement occurs. I have also heard it suggested that any improvement simply arises from removing the power supply.

Tonight I did an A/B comparison switching between stock Techie and DACMagic. Then I removed the power supply and put it in a separate box, and carried out the same A/B with the DACMagic.

The result, to my ears, was that while the stock Techie had sounded a bit congested with poor separation and stereo imaging, and a bit shrill compared to the DACMagic, after the power supply removal the Techie did better, in the same sort of way I had noticed with my original installation of the Timestep PSU.

In brief, now that I've done something resembling a real A/B comparison, I'm leaning towards the view that removing the power supply really does improve the deck, and I think it's not impossible that the lion's share, or even all of the improvement that people hear with custom power supplies is down to this step, rather than the power supply itself.

I'm not saying fancy expensive power supplies offer no improvement; I don't know the answer to that, and I need to do some more real A/B comparisons before I form a view. I'm just saying that I'm now pretty sure that you can have a significant part of that upgrade more or less for free, by just removing the transformer.

Hi Richrad

This is more or less what Richard (vantage audio) has been telling me ! And in fact the OEM psu components are actually of a very high quality , the internal regulator is also no where near as bad as some think , removing the psu to a separate box is where to start.


The more i learn about this deck , the more respect i have for the original design .

Hi Richard,

Nice one, and thanks for taking the time to post your findings, which I actually agree with :)

Having that big lump of iron sat underneath the platter is a sonic no-no! And yes, the stock PSU is probably pretty good. I wouldn't have expected the Matsushita engineers to have fitted crap.

However, where you really start to hear the differences quality off-board PSUs make is when you compare different ones against each other....

I've compared the stock Timestep PSU to the Paul Hynes SR3 and SR5, and also the SR3 to the SR5, and the differences aren't subtle!

The SR3 makes the stock Timestep PSU sound broken (I can go into more detail on this if you wish) and the SR5 simply annihilates it. There is also a marked difference between the SR3 and SR5.

Therefore simply by experimenting, there are undoubtedly improvements to be had in that area.

Of course, I haven't compared any of the above to the stock Techincs PSU, fitted into an external box. However, as good as it is, I'd expect something like the SR5 to comfortably outperform it, albeit at some cost.

It would certainly be an interesting comparison to carry out sometime. If you're coming to the Scalford Hall show, maybe bring your PSU with you and we can try swapping them on my T/T to see what happens? :cool:

Marco.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chris@panteg

Hi Richrad

This is more or less what Richard (vantage audio) has been telling me ! And in fact the OEM psu components are actually of a very high quality , the internal regulator is also no where near as bad as some think , removing the psu to a separate box is where to start.


The more i learn about this deck , the more respect i have for the original design .

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G'day Chris, Has Richard of Vantage Audio actually lived with a 12XX sampling the various PSUs available, viz: KAB, Timestep standard and HE, Paul Hynes SR3 and SR5, and what others that are available? No way am I having a go at Richard, I don't know him but from reputation I would make use of his experience and service, but a thought does come to my mind that you can only base a finding on actual hands on experience over time. Even a quality pickup cartridge changes from virginal new to better performance over a period of time bedding in (no pun ;) therefore, one must live with a piece of equipment in a known and familiar context for a period of time before arriving at a conclusion which boils down to either (a) Yup, this is good and it stays, or (b) I'm not convinced and its not for me? The Matsushita engineers have produced a marvellous TT as anyone who has delved into its innards will verify so the original PSU will be a good'un whether in situ or satelite. From my personal experience my TS HE PSU has improved my 1210 as has my MN bearing. The 1210 tone arm
is not as bad as its made out to be but could do with a little fettling and it will do until funds permit a premier league arm if so wished. A Jelco 750D is not mind numbing expensive and punches way above its price band.

Hats off to those good bods out there that have taken the 12XX beyond what was conceived by the audiophile 20 or 30 years ago, respect :clap:

Ron :cocktail:

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Originally Posted by JazzBones

G'day Chris, Has Richard of Vantage Audio actually lived with a 12XX sampling the various PSUs available, viz: KAB, Timestep standard and HE, Paul Hynes SR3 and SR5, and what others that are available? No way am I having a go at Richard, I don't know him but from reputation I would make use of his experience and service, but a thought does come to my mind that you can only base a finding on actual hands on experience over time. Even a quality pickup cartridge changes from virginal new to better performance over a period of time bedding in (no pun ;) therefore, one must live with a piece of equipment in a known and familiar context for a period of time before arriving at a conclusion which boils down to either (a) Yup, this is good and it stays, or (b) I'm not convinced and its not for me? The Matsushita engineers have produced a marvellous TT as anyone who has delved into its innards will verify so the original PSU will be a good'un whether in situ or satelite. From my personal experience my TS HE PSU has improved my 1210 as has my MN bearing. The 1210 tone arm
is not as bad as its made out to be but could do with a little fettling and it will do until funds permit a premier league arm if so wished. A Jelco 750D is not mind numbing expensive and punches way above its price band.

Hats off to those good bods out there that have taken the 12XX beyond what was conceived by the audiophile 20 or 30 years ago, respect :clap:

Ron :cocktail:

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Hi Ron

Well Richard has disclosed to me a huge amount of information on his own work and modifications on the SL1200/1210 series and indeed a fair few other's in the range , he is not saying changing to PH or TS will not be any better than the stock psu ' but by simply and safely ! removing the oem verson you already have a significant upgrade for minimal cost .

As for his own mods for the SL1200 , unless he is being less than truthful, which i doubt very much ! He has quite literally experimented the hell out of this venerable classic DD , several different and varying in mass platter's numerous bearing's and so on , he tells me he has heard some of the alternative aftermaket psu's and bearing's and again why should i doubt him ?

Whenever i ask Richard a straight question , he always comes back to me with a detailed and informative answer , perhaps at times information overload which could confuse a stupid person like me :) .

I would urge you to email Richard directly and ask him these question's , i'm pretty certain he will reply and its quite refreshing to get a straight answer instead of something vague and ambiguous .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marco

It would certainly be an interesting comparison to carry out sometime. If you're coming to the Scalford Hall show, maybe bring your PSU with you and we can try swapping them on my T/T to see what happens? :cool:

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Probably won't make it to Scalford I'm afraid. Swapping them is a five minute job as making the stock PS into a satellite means keeping the regulator in circuit, so it's definitely not a question of just swapping power supplies on the same cable. I'm sure you knew that.

I agree with the comments that you need to live with a change for a while to really know if it's working for you. We are talking about subtle differences in presentation here, despite what everyone says. Even if you have three decks side by side for comparison, variation between setups and cartridges of the same model can lead you astray. It's very hard to apply proper scientific method to these issues.

My Mike New bearing is installed and I'm running it in with a nice bit of Elgar at the moment. This one fits perfectly, unlike the one I bought from DC in the summer and had to return. I don't want to share my initial impressions as running in seems to be important.

Richard - keep it spinning at 45 overnight. That seems to do the trick fairly quickly.

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Originally Posted by MartinT

Richard - keep it spinning at 45 overnight. That seems to do the trick fairly quickly.

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Have done. Still not out of the woods. Will start to assess after 100 hours.

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Originally Posted by worrasf

I am one of those who likes the power switch to work so have kept it in the circuit. In my case it was the brown and blue wires at bottom of the power pcb that went to and from the power switch - the third wire (in my case red not light blue) was not involved. The photo shows the wiring - heat shrink keeps the joins tidy and I then used a dab of hot glue to keep the wires in place (not shown).
IMHO I could not detect any degradation in sound with the switch in or out of the circuit.

Steve

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Coming back to this past post of yours Steve as I intend to re-install the on/off power switch on my 1210Mk2 using a TS HE psu. Have got fed up with pulling the 13amp mains plug out of play when a listening 'sheshun' :) had finished although the plug pins where kept clean by the friction of making and breaking electrical contact. Wanting life to be a bit easier I referred back to your pictorial post of old and I have but one question: I notice you have routed and connected the -ve DC from the psu to the top right corner of the main circuit board a la Dave Cawley? I did this at first following his basic intructions to the letter. At a later date it was concluded (on this forum) that this connection should actually be made at the bottom left earth screw, diagonally opposite on the pcb, this being the best connecting point... this I have done. I'm assuming this can be done when I re-activate my on/off switch thus deviating slightly from what you have shown/done? Those who know more than me about these things please correct me or confirm that the connection (-ve DC from psu/blue wire) is the way to go... I await with trembling soldering iron in hand :eyebrows::)

Loads of thanks
Ron

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Originally Posted by sonddek

Probably won't make it to Scalford I'm afraid. Swapping them is a five minute job as making the stock PS into a satellite means keeping the regulator in circuit, so it's definitely not a question of just swapping power supplies on the same cable. I'm sure you knew that.

I agree with the comments that you need to live with a change for a while to really know if it's working for you. We are talking about subtle differences in presentation here, despite what everyone says. Even if you have three decks side by side for comparison, variation between setups and cartridges of the same model can lead you astray. It's very hard to apply proper scientific method to these issues.

My Mike New bearing is installed and I'm running it in with a nice bit of Elgar at the moment. summer and had to return.This one fits perfectly, unlike the one I bought from DC in the I don't want to share my initial impressions as running in seems to be important.

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Hi Richard, I bought my Mike New bearing from Dave Cawley when he loved it and said it was worthy of a £10K turntable. At the time of the MN/DC fall out, well documented here in AoS I kept my MN bearing (sold by DC remember) when others where being scared shitless into getting rid of theirs. I also posted on AoS that my MN bearing, insitu, had nearly ten days of non stop running in at both 33 and 45 rpm mode... I was trying to see if there was a fault, under load, (no there wasn't!) and test to distruction!!! I'm still using this very same bearing today with absolutely no probs whatsoever... one of my better buys in audio related matters. Apparently, the bearing was reported not to be happy in hot climes, huh :scratch:? but I had no intentions of using my vinyl on the salt flats of Ethiopia :ner:

By the way, I'm assuming that you trimmed/snipped off the 18 component wires that poke through the solder side of the pcb board in the area of the circular body of the new bearing housing as these could foul?

You'll get there mate, welcome to the agonies and joy of Tech 1210 enhancement society :lol:

Cheers
Ron

My on/off switch is wired to turn the red strobe light on and off. Since my MN platter has no strobe markings, using the light is pretty much worthless :)

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Originally Posted by MartinT

My on/off switch is wired to turn the red strobe light on and off. Since my MN platter has no strobe markings, using the light is pretty much worthless :)

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Hi Martin, is your switch purely to switch off the red strobe light or, more importantly, does it also turn the electrical mains power off from the deck?
I know that when you had the TS psu you left this fired up 24/7 but was your deck left powered too? I think that the Paul Hynes psu has its own switch on the back of the unit which will cut mains power to the deck. As I intend leaving my TS HE psu on 24/7 I now need to re-install the on/off switch as the TS (as you probably know) does not have a switch on the unit itself thus leaving this unit on means that the deck itself is powered up as well, strobe light and all.
Regards the platter, I am doing my own experiments on strength bonding the existing platter as a first step. By the way what has happened to Arthur K's acrylic/delrin platter which I would also like to try out bonded to his Acromat (white 5mm thick), I reckon it would look rather fetching? I guess David Brooks (Mains Cable R Us) has given up on his version of a platter?

:) Ron

Ron - it only switches off the strobe light. The deck remains powered from the 21V supply (you didn't mean mains, did you). I also leave the PH power supply permanently switched on.

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Originally Posted by JazzBones

At a later date it was concluded (on this forum) that this connection should actually be made at the bottom left earth screw, diagonally opposite on the pcb, this being the best connecting point... this I have done. I'm assuming this can be done when I re-activate my on/off switch thus deviating slightly from what you have shown/done?
Ron

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Hi Ron, yes no problem. I also have now moved the connector to the bottom left - just needs a slightly longer length of wire. IMHO moving the connector has not made an difference to the sound but theoretically at least it's where it should be.

For what it's worth, I have just sent my PCB to Vantage Audio for an electrolytic upgrade and earth path re-working. I will then use their PSU instead of the TimeStep. I have been massively impressed by the improvement the Vantage Audio bearing and platter upgrades have produced so am hoping to be similarly pleased after this (?final) one.

Steve